IF YOU WANT EPIC (YOU'VE GOT IT)

I know I use this word too much, but seriously. It's been a long time since something has hit my brain so violently, and I already forgot how I ended up finding this. Whoever posted this on the internets, many thanks.

"This" is Torche's self titled from 2005.

The cover is glorious, and is beautifully appropriate for their psychy flowerpowered apocalypse of sound.

Finding their myspace, you notice they play Rock/Rock/Rock (arguably my favorite combination) and describe themselves as "total hipsters!". If you've been reading this blog, you probably know us personaly and are aware of our mild obsession with hipsterdom. Hence, this band is getting better by the minute.

To top the "trivia" section off, not only do they have great taste in eye/headware, but they also baptized their genre of music as "thunder pop" (dixit Allmusic), which is, as my grandma would say, "the fucking shit".

But wait, what exactly do they play? From what I've told you already, it's violently epic thunder pop rock/rock/rock psychy flowerpowered apocalypse, and that's kind of nonsense. But to be honest, the first comparisons that came to my mind were a "doom version of Titus Andronicus", "Om with a guitar and a recent fascination for psychedelic pop" or an "Isis that I can actually listen to because the singer doesn't sound like a dying panda"... They dared mixing down tuned heavy riffing with melody instead of the usual difficult to digest barrage of aggression, giving "doom" a whole new dimension: one where the epic can not only be achieved through bone-crushing grooves and a pounding rhythm section, but also through soaring harmonics, the two of which blend in a surprisingly enjoyable fashion. Clocking in at 6 seconds above the half hour, this is a short record, with most songs under 2:30 (yet another feat from Torche: being able to condense the epicness in the super-effective punk/early 60's pop format).

You want epic? Forget Mogwai, Isis, Pelican, Godspeed You Black Emperor and other moody post-rockers. No, more than that, Torche any memory you might have of them and enjoy the fact that some bands still actually try things that sound pretty dumb (beach boys with pelican? what?) and manage to blow your mind with it. To quote my friend from the bay, this stuff is hellaheavy. It's also hellacatchy: the perfect spring album.

Torche

Self Titled (2005), Robotic Empire Records

Just so you know, their 2009 follow up is titled Meanderthal.

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There might be a few things wrong with this record. First of all, the production isn't perfect (it's not bad either), and if you listen to this on decent headphones, there is some mildly enjoyable Jesus & Mary Chain bacon frying style distortion - some people like it, I on one hand like my heavy loud and clear (probably purposefully overdriven - meh).

Second, the songs will probably get old quite quickly. Only time will tell. What I can be certain of though, is that this is going to be a Torche week, and that you should give this album a try.

JNCT

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